Page 11 of Room One Hundred and Eleven

Once inside, she squirms until I set her down. My reluctance to let go of her has more to do with how perfectly she fits in my arms than any real concern. Still, she was knocked around pretty good.

Knox lays her bag on our dining table near the floor-to-ceiling windows that give a birds-eye view of the cityscape.

Refusing to be distracted, Poppy doesn’t even glance at the showstopper. Instead, she unzips her hard-shell luggage straight down the middle and splays it open.

If there’s a medical kit inside, I don’t see it because my vision tunnels on the silk robe and spider web of black satin and lace.

Lingerie? Who bought her that?

Gunner? Fuck that. It better be on my card too.

No one but us will see her in it.

“Carter.” Knox is smirking.

“Huh?”

“She asked you to move. Quit casting your shadow on Aiden’s face so she can keep him from staining our carpet or end up looking like Frankenstein, huh?” He nudges my shoulder.

I step aside, tearing my gaze from our beauty’s underthings.

She’s already got her kit open, gloves on, and is ripping the backing off one of those sterilized packages with clear plastic on one side and waxy paper on the other. It hasswaged needleand a bunch numbers printed in navy on the front.

When she has it precisely set where she wants it on top of something that looks like a puppy pee pad, she picks up a syringe with a needle and draws clear liquid out of a small glass vial. “Let me get a little numbing in there. You won’t feel a thing after that.”

“Damn.” Knox not-so-subtly rearranges his package when she bites the clear plastic cap then yanks it off the needle before spitting it onto the table.

She’s oblivious, locked onto her task, operating on autopilot as she stands in the V of Aiden’s legs. His knees hug her hips. I can imagine a lot of other scenarios for such an intimate position.

“Take a deep breath for me.” Does she have any idea how much she sounds like I will when I’m coaching her through her first time later? “A baby pinch, okay?”

Her finger taps on Aiden’s jaw, distracting him from the sting as she inserts the needle.

The fucker doesn’t even flinch as he stares, mesmerized, by our beauty.

She’s efficient and skilled in her area of expertise.

I can’t wait until she steps into ours and the tables turn.

“Fortunately, this split in a way that I can hide the scar in your laugh lines. It’s smooth enough to be fine. You’ll never see it when I’m done.” It doesn’t take her more than five minutes to place the stitches, knot them off, and bandage him up.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” She beams at Aiden, stopping just short of patting him on the head, tousling his honey-blond hair, and muttering “good boy” like he’s an actual golden retriever instead of simply acting like one most times.

With one hand, she grabs the garbage then slides her glove off, wrapping it up in a neat ball surrounded by latex as if she’s done it a million times before.

Knox collects the wad from her and tosses it in the trash.

“Well, uh, thanks again for saving me.” She stuffs her kit into her suitcase and zips it up, ignoring the fact that we’ve all seen her spicy underthings.

And imagined peeling them off of her string by string.

“You don’t have to go.” Aiden says what we’re thinking, except I know better than to give in to temptation.

I glower at him. Knox too, for good measure.

Our beauty edges closer to the door.

“Thank you, but I have plans for tonight. The whole weekend actually.” She shakes her head as if she’d forgotten and is reminding herself of what lies ahead. “In fact, I need to get ready.”

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